Pesto!

It was a bitter sweet day on Saturday :(. We dropped Pesto off at her new home. Pesto didn't really know what was going on but she was very excited to be going somewhere with at least one of us, that's always good!


Again, God provided her with a home. Here is the short story :). 


I had two people interested in Pesto through word of mouth. Both people for their own reasons were unable to have her. I have appreciated the honesty of these people as having a dog, let alone someone else's, is a big commitment. 


I texted Albert once both had fallen through and told him that God must have a plan B for Pesto, HE just hasn't revealed it to me yet. I was not worried about it as God had looked after everything else and so re-homing the dog seemed pretty insignificant. When people inquired how we were doing etc., I would answer, only the dog is left!


One day Albert was home late from work and when I opened the door for him, both him and the police dog handler were at our door. I was surprised as I'm sure most people would be to have the police at your door! As it turned out, Albert knew him and got talking to him on the way home from work. As a offside comment, Albert asked him, did he know someone who wanted a dog? He said he would ask around. A couple of days later he texted us that he had found someone. (WOW, a big WOW!). I didn't want to get my hopes up but after some more information gathering (on both sides) and meeting with the potential new owners, it was all go! At the meeting, she wowed them with her tricks and affection. Even better the new owners love running and exercise which is just perfect for her. She will get the attention she needs as well as the exercise she needs, what more could I have prayed for? 


We dropped her off at her new house on Saturday and she seems to be settling in well. She discovered the cat biscuits very quickly, marked her territory , met the two resident cats and enjoyed the attention! 


I will miss her, I love her, she is the best running buddy but very grateful for an excellent home for her. 


Here is a YouTube video we made for one of the potential owners. 

Opa's handi work!

When you have toy dogs, you need dog kennels right? Who better to ask than Opa?

The unpainted dog kennel

Kate's dog kennel, I wonder why the kennel is being painted red?

This can only be Zara, painting her kennel green. 

Affco Tri Feb 2011

(Again a draft post in the making for umm a wee while now, never mind better late than never I suppose)


My first ever sprint Triathlon with my best friend Albert and my best training buddy Brydie.

His and hers bike, ah so romantic

Waiting for our briefing 

Who's that handsome man to the right of the photo?

Me and Brydie in the transition area from swim to bike

Coming in from the bike

Leaving for the hard part, the run

Again that handsome man again, going superfast!

I'm managing to run for the camera (thankfully the camera wasn't there on the hill otherwise they would have caught me walking some parts of the run ;) )

FINISHED!

Our support crew, thanks heaps Papa and Mama and Brydie's husband Garth! You can't do events without a support crew!

A happy couple

PS there is bound to be a picture post coming from the AFFCO Tri this year!

Sleeping Habits?

Here is another post that was in my draft folder. (I have good intentions, the execution is not always as good :) )


Zara
Here are some photo's of Zara while she is sleeping in funny positions. (I suppose it is still cute when you are little, probably not so cute when you are a teenager!)



Aren't dogs supposed to sleep in the dog kennel? (instead on your hand?)

This is not Zara, but a funny sleeping position nonetheless!

HUH?

I can see a hand...

Peekabo!

Kate the big school girl

This post was sitting in my draft folder and even though it is almost a year ago, it is a pretty big milestone  to have your first day at school. So here is Kate in Mrs Lewis class. She is showing Clifford for news. 

In her school uniform, doesn't she look smart?

Providence!

Grace reading bedtime stories to a different set of cousins. 

Well, where to start? 

First thing first. 

In order for us to go to America a number of steps/hurdles had to be overcome. Here are the two main steps:

• Enough money to cover us for three years in the States. Albert on his student visa is unable to work and I'm a dependant only getting in the country because I'm married to him. This was our biggest hurdle, a significant amount of money needed to be raised and we were only able to come up with a small contribution and even that was subject to us selling our house.
  
  I won't go into all the details here on the blog but suffice to say that God answered our prayer and the prayer of many that HE has supplied all that we need. Within about 3 weeks, Steffen our deacon had fund raised the whole amount. Steffen did a lot of work, writing letters to churches, friends and committees. What people thought was just about impossible IS possible with God. We are VERY humbled by people's generosity.

• Sale of our house. This was a big concern to us as the housing market is very depressed at the moment in Wanganui and there are a LOT of houses for sale in our potential price bracket. 

Sale of our house

Then there was also the small matters of getting our house ready for sale which meant a lot of painting. A new stove surround, a new fireplace surround, washing the house, painting the front porch, tidying up the garden, waterblasting the concrete, weeding the garden, and making the front entrance look attractive. 

Our church had a working bee at our house and we managed to wash the outside of the house, do the garden, wash the windows and waterblast the concrete, front porch and deck. 

We met with a real estate agent in March to get an idea of how much our house is worth in the current market. We were not unhappy with the figure he came up with but very apprehensive of the extensive marketing package he proposed (about a $1000 worth). Basically we were doing well to break even on our house especially with the real estate fee should we chose to list. 

We decided to continue with the renovations and then list it with the real estate agent but GOD had other plans. Albert while at work, mentioned to one of his clients that his house was for sale and one thing leads to another and the client is keen to have a look. Albert arranges a viewing on a Wednesday night. 

On Monday and Tuesday of that week, we are renovating flat tack, putting the final coats on our bedroom, undercoat and one topcoat in the hall way. I would like to paint you a picture of what our house looked like. All I have been doing for those last weeks was painting and so apart from eating and laundry, the housework has been neglected. All our bedroom furniture is in the lounge (which is a huge mess), we were sleeping in the family room on the spare bed, the girls bedrooms are a mess (don't tell me that your kids rooms are spotless!), bathroom is dusty, laundry room is full of our painting stuff. Anyway you get the picture. :) 

While we were busy putting the final touches to the house the phone rings. Albert answered and then told me the good news, the clients would like to visit today and the bad news, they are a couple of minutes away!! ARGGGH. Albert warned them about the mess which they said was no problem. 

They arrive and Albert shows them through our house ofcourse pointing all the lovely features (hoping that they will ignore the pigsty). I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner for the girls, who have been very patiently waiting as it is late by now. Halfway through the showing of the house, Steffan comes by for a visit (which was a huge blessing to us). Once Albert gives them the tour and as they are about to leave, the clients look at each other and are instantly in love with the house.

Once they leave and it is just us, we are blown away by God's timing, WOW. We're speechless. 

It gets better, the next day they confirm their interest, the next week we sign a conditional sale and purchase agreement with an agreed purchase price. The settlement date is not until we leave the country and to top it all off they are cash buyers with no house to sell! The agreement has gone unconditional this past Monday with all conditions met and the professional valuation is in the buyers favour, win/win all around!

I have always believed that things happen for a purpose and that God is in control of ALL things but have never experienced this so powerfully in my own life. This is the kind of stuff that happens to other people not ordinary people like us. I read a bible verse the other day that sums this all up: 

Eph 3:20 "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,"

PS this is not where the providence story stops, there is the cat, dog, visas, passports, paperwork, oh and our new house! another installment will be here soon. 

A Change!

'Showing off' on how beautiful Wanganui is!

This post was been a while coming! I could 'waffle' and 'go around the bush' for a while if you wish ;) or I could come straight to the point! If you know me in real life you know what option I would choose. 


The Beginning. 
Albert's had a desire for a while now (probably before I came on the scene) to become a pastor. This is not to say that he is not happy being a Physio, he is! It is just that something has niggled him over the years. A couple of years ago we attended a conference in Melbourne at the R.T.C as a couple. Murray in one of his lectures challenged the attendees what they where doing with their lives and what more importantly were they doing with their talents God gave them. This gave us lots to think about. We sought advice from family, friends, and our local session as to Albert's suitability. When we got back to NZ Albert talked to his session and they agreed to 'test' him.  This happened over several years, he had to prepare his own sermon, served as an elder, taught catechism, went on home visits and attended plenty of meetings. 


In the middle of last year, PNorth session approved for Albert to study for the ministry. The final step in the process was to get the Wellington Presbytery (ie all the Reformed Churches in the Wellington Region) approval which happened in March of this year. So this means that Albert has had the go-ahead to pursue ministerial studies! 


A lot of questions followed, where to study, where is the money going to come from, what are we going to do with our house, pets, what are we going to do for school for the girls, can he continue in his current job until we go, when is Albert going to learn Greek, how do we fit in renovations into our current life? 


What a change, but a very good change, we're unsure on what lies ahead but we're taking one step/day at a time.


In my next post I'll answer some of these questions :).